[mdntcallr]

I am a bit underwhelmed by the new laptops,
They do have a great new design, but:
1- No Blu-Ray, cmon apple they make drives that read Blu-Ray, and they can be superdrive for CD/DVD media.
2- No Matte Anti-Glare Display. Its a bad idea to only have glossy, many of us prefer the matte display. Please bring it back.
3- no button on trackpad? i hope this new pad works well, otherwise... may be hard to run laptop.
well, please bring Blu-Ray, after all they sell BD discs with digital copies for Laptop, why not support the format then?? BD is showing some love for apple, Please return the favor

[heisetax]

The old Titanium PowerBooks were very easy to take apart. I changed my hard drive at least a dozen times. I even changed the CD/DVD drive in a couple of models. But compared to the Aluminum PowerBooks & Intel MacBook Pros, Apples appears to have done a very good job. Now if they can bring the easy access & some of the other good changes to the apparently new elimination of the 17" Intel MacBook Pro options to standard items change. Loosing the FW400 connector is not a good choice for the 17". Being a FW800 user for most of my FW use, I won't miss it as much as some. This is just another step in the killing of FW on all Macs. There is no FW400 or FW800 connectors on the new 24" display. Logitech makes a much better USB camera, so I don't want to spend the extra money to have a lowly USB iSight camera in any display that I purchase. The FW400 iSight camera was passing for its time, but needing some resolution & speed upgrades not a downgrade to USB. The Logitech USB 2 camera will do 1920 X 1200, but on a few occasions said that the USB buss was overloading & would have to shut down. Why no FW 2-4 MPixel iSight camera. I guess the further elimination of FW from Macs is one of the many reasons.

[Jason Snell]

TDaMoose said:

The MacBook Pro has three USB 2 ports not two as you stated.

The new MacBook Pro has two USB ports, not three.

[Jason Snell]

montgomery_burns said:

"DisplayPort is an emerging display-connectivity standard"

If Apple uses the same signaling protocols but then sticks on their own proprietary connector that is not available anywhere else, are they really following the DisplayPort standard?

As the article says, it's unclear if the Mini connector is actually part of the spec or not. Apple seems to suggest that it's not actually proprietary -- it's just the first one to use it.

[steffi1]

Just think how expensive the new machines are going to be to repair. ie. top case bottom case etc.

[Vanmo92]

I would be all over the new ones, if I hadnt bought one of the high end black MacBooks recently (well, july, but that is pretty recently). The only new features I wish I had on my macbook was LCD backlighting. And backlit keyboard. THinner is always better, but I am contented. But I would miss my FireWire. Plus I LOVE the way the white apple looks on the black macbook, On the aluminum it just looks plain.

[petnekiabel]

Excellent first write-up, Jason. Thanks for filling in some of the details. I would like to have a couple of questions for your full article. Are the new displays any different gloss-wise from the previous generation MacBook screen? Or is it more like the iMac's screen with very noticeable reflections?
I also noticed the MacBook now has two fans. Can you tell us if it got any louder? Do the fans kick in more frequently due to the more powerful NVidia chip? Does the unibody structure dissipate a lot of heat? At which parts of the enclosure?
Thanks.

[Mac212]

I thought that Apple was clever to cover the iMac screens with glare prone glass. It forced the pro market to purchase the more expensive Mac Pro and Cinema Display. It made sense. Most professional users had the extra money to spend.
I was floored this afternoon when I found out the new MBP and Cinema Display would follow suit. I'm a professional photographer. I simply can not use these machines. It's ironic because the reason I switched to Mac five years ago was because it was (is) the creative industry standard. Clearly Apple has lost sight of this. Visit any pro photography forum to see the overwhelming disappointment. To those who say, "What's the big deal? CRT monitors were glass." Nobody was trying to use CRT monitors in all different locations and lighting conditions. I could understand if it was just for the Macbooks, whose primary function will be viewing websites, iTunes, & checking email. Are the MBP's really targeted at consumers? They're too expensive for my parents.
Considering they put glass over the new Cinema Display as well, I think it's safe to say that glass is here to stay, at least for now.
It's a sad day for Mac using creatives.

[cycomachead]

Hehe I love how micro dvi disappeared off the map! And dual link dvi is $100 now not 30 which used to be $20. Gee apple's making at lot more money. "low profit margins" yeah right!

So this is a bit of a rant (with a point) but I'm angry at apple and their direction
Ok here goes. And I officially really love my white 2 year old MB.

I do like the new design overall. It looks really sharp. However, I don't like the screen at all. I prefer matte but it's not that. I never liked the black+Al of the iMac which got it from the iPhone. Personally, I'd prefer they use Al over glass. It's light cheaper and there's less of it. I understand the flowing brand image thing. So make the inner edges of the iMacs display more tapered like the edges. If they really wanted to the could have no glass. The MBP is HEAVIER than before. By .1lb but that doesn't mean it's not heavier. and it's likely due to the glass!

Then I love the new graphics but the MB still has no memory. ok, i guess it's better. I do like the thin-ness and that it's lighter. THERE'S NO FIREWIRE IN THE MID AND HIGHEND MACBOOKS!!! The $999 has firewire. It aslo has a faster processor. Whoa wait???!?!?!? The cheaper model is faster? No not quite, but is 2.1 not greater than 2.0? Exactly. Also the high end macbook is now $1600 a full 100 more than before. Really for a backlight and a faster processor w/ equal ghz to the last gen? Sure it's penryn over santa rosa. The FSB is 1066 over 800mhz - which could matter some, but how much? But what consumer cares? It's also more than 2x as many screws to upgrade the ram as before and involves removing the entire bottom plate (both parts). In all fairness the price of 4GB of ram is now a respectable though semi high $150 and not $400. Now let me compare my MacBook to the 1300 macbook today. Mine was 1300 2 years and 3 months ago. I have since spent about $200 for a bigger HD and 2GB of ram let's compare:

2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo, 1066mhz FSB, 3MB L2 cache, 2GB 1066mhz DDR3 ram (actually nice, but not huge) 160gb HD 5400 RPM, nvidia 9400m w/ 256MB shared (most important) 802.11n, better super drive, lighter, led display
now mine
2.0Ghz Core Duo, 667mhz FSB, 2MB L2 cache, 2GB 667mhz DDR2 ram (maxed out though) 200gb HD 7200 RPM (nice improvement cancels out some FSB or processor) intel gma 950 802.11g, 5.2lbs .7lbs more.
Had I bought after the sept 06 rev (less than 2 months)
2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo, 667mhz FSB, 4MB L2 cache, 2GB 667mhz DDR2 ram (maxed out at 3GB only costs like $20 more) 200gb HD 7200 RPM (counting as if it were the same thing) intel gma 950, 802.11n (same thing for $1.99), 5.2lbs .7lbs more. Also slightly faster superdirve 6x vs current 8x.

But then I lose FW which is huge. I no longer get a remote (not new though). If I bought mine within a year then it's even closer when you consider the 800mhz FSB, 244mb shared Vram, 5.0lbs. And then when you compare the $100 more.

Now obviously there are many things that I do get, but for me to spend a couple hundred over 2 years I'm not getting much more other than design. And while I do love the new design I can't get over the display. Though this is insignificant compared to FW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! Apple removed 1 FW port from each line and the MB only had one.

[cycomachead]

Actually Apple's specs list 5.4, but in any case heavier is not lighter!

I'm also very glad to see I'm not the only one with these same thoughts.

Does anyone else suddenly have a new affair with a white (or black) macbook? Mine is getting a cleaning soon!

[cycomachead]

Sadly, the MacBook since it's intro has been the easiest. 3 screws for ram and 4 for a slide out HD. The ram in the new macbook is more. But in any case it's great for all. I've got a fast 1st gen MB with ram and HD upgrades.

It's also good to know that old PB's had a few easily replaceable parts and 2 pcmica slots. But they were BRICKS.
Edit: Actually, some of the post-Steve powerbooks had these features to and looked good. (The only PB I own is a 5300cs and I've used iBooks and MacBooks since)

[cycomachead]

Well actually, it wouldn't be very good for easy swaps, but by removing the back panel it appears you could get to the drive faster now, but Apple would've needed to put the dvd drive in a brack or something to make it really easy. Maybe they did? Maybe we can mod these things really easily!

[FreshlySnipes206]

I have the original MacBook Pro 15in and I love it. I wish it had a blue Ray disk player/burner and a HDMI cable. Does the new one have either of these? It should at least have a blue ray player.

[cycomachead]

The pieces are already expensive enough. However, the bottom case will be cheap. It's user replaceable! Also the keyboard in the macbook is separate and standard for the 2 lines (cheaper production, better environmental standards) and now if one breaks the other doesn't. The top case is also less likely to break. Not only that but the repair time should be shorter if there's less pieces. That's the expensive part. But what about the glass? And is it sturdy? My MB got a hairline crack under the iSight from display adjustment and moving the computer. I'm hoping that'll be fixed. Of course I love my white MB even more and I'm keeping it for a while!